Randy Pausch

What an amazing attitude. He is dying and still he takes pleasure in everything.
One of the most amazing things I found about his teaching methods is that he gave his students little to no direction and they still delivered excellence. In order to hand over all creative license you have to teach the basics until it goes beyond understanding.
He also allowed for creativity, he didn't say no or give a rubric. He also didn't set a time limit; in a year they had five projects.
He also did everything in small groups. In my experience small groups usually meant I am doing the work of four. That being said, he seemed to be able to bring the best in what a small group can produce. ( brain storming, collaboration, joint resources, balancing of virtues, taking shifts/sharing work, allocating tasks, acceptance of new/changing information, culture/new idea exposure, encouraging creativity.... the list goes on!)
Another thing he did was he didn't hide criticism. He viewed it as positive and it is, even if the student your criticizing are not receptive. He is also very right when he says when the criticism stops then the caring and teaching stops.
Lastly he wants learning to be fun. We shouldn't just test, we as teachers need to be creative. To learn verbs let them write a story about any thing they choose. Make it a "head fake"!!!

Podcasts in teaching

Pod casts are convenient class room tools for lecturing as its easy to download presentations. For example a teacher can download a podcast of blood flowing through a human heart to help explain the circulatory system. Or a long division problem done one step at a time.
A teacher can also give a list of "helpful Pods" for each lesson, project or assignment. The "helpful Pods" can give extra help or go more in depth than class time allows.
Podcasts are good for upper level and lower level student. The teacher must however pay attention to age appropriateness, and student involvement. Having a class of five and six year olds searching for a podcast on the human body all at once is not advisable.
One site with lots of ideas comes from an online school library journal. They also have useful links to other "pod-teaching" sites.
The itunesUniversity also has lots of classroom down loads many of which are FREE! Which always helps given the cut backs in educational funding.

Duke University and Free iPods

I agree with Duke University that podcasting can be very useful in education, however giving students free iPods is a bit much. How do they know that the students don't already have one and post the university iPod on eBey. This issue is not covered in Duke's evaluation report, however they do cover the what and why in the report.
One thing I defiantly see for iPods in downloadable textbooks. I student goes to the bookstore and pays $150 for a book they can't resale, but as an ebook it might only cost $20.
The downloadable resources are incredible, you can even get sparknotes, vangonotes and SAT vocab builder!

Presentation

Email to diffuse gender stereotypes in the classroom

On Dr.Christi's web page there was a study on gender stereotyping and email which I found fascinating. Unlike may predisposed notions both genders described technology as frustrating, fun and as a way to connect with others. And in fact boys used it as a medium to discuss romantic relationships. Girls more often used technological terms than boys.Some traditional gender thinking was upheld by the study. Even though both described the computer for connecting with others, girls did it more often than boys. Were boys more often described it as an information gathering tool more than girls.
I can incorporate a email/ technology enrichment assignments in class. This will hopefully incorporate a more collaborative instead of competitive environment in the classroom. This isn't a ploy for female dominance ether, most of the boys reported that they enjoyed a more collaborative environment than a competitive one. It is better to encourage collaboration ( although traditionally a feminine trait) as this is the more useful skill in real life. For example a student might do better on a test if studying with a group than by themselves. Two education majors might split the cost of an e-book required for class, and make copies.

Wikipedia

I would like to say I'm surprised by wikipedia, but who couldn't see this coming. Wikipedia is a compilation of information edited and maintained by different sources who prefer to remain anonymous. Its not weather Wikipedia can be trusted, but weather the editors of the articles can be trusted. And now with the Wikiscanner we can see who we're dealing with.
Many of the editors seem to have ulterior motives though. Why would a Political Party alter the entry of a speech?; let me count the ways.

Fisch blog- A Formula For Success?

My chosen blog was centered around math assessment. Are "right or wrong" questions a good way of testing and teaching math? Or is it better to ask open ended questions such as "if you were to build a jungle gym what would the dimensions be and why?".
Personally I think its much valuable to ask open-ended and opinionated math questions. It allows student to think critically and makes math more relevant.
If you would have asked me in high school why are hyperboles were important I would have said "because its on the test". Its better to ask student to solve a situational problem in which hyperboles are necessary that to ask "what does Y equal if X is 3?".
Once a student can use math in problem solving it makes it easier to apply to real life. If a student can just understand enough to pass the test then whats the point?

Computer Illiterate Teachers

The "best blog of September" composed by Karl Ficsh presented a fascinating argument. Should teachers be accountable for standards in technology? In response I ask the question aren't we already? We are all in a 300 level micro computing systems class as a requirement for teacher candidacy. How ever I do see his point, not all current teacher were raised or educated with technology.
However should a teacher be fired for being computer un-savvy ,so to speak? Are teachers fired for using ineffective teaching methods? Or using poor handouts? If teachers should be monitored for computer knowledge then they should also be monitored for other teaching standards as well.
It is easier to monitor computer knowledge by grouping it with existing standards. Computers should be encompassed in the "highly qualified" teaching standards.

International Teacher Blogs

The first International school I found was the Shu Ren International School.
They are located in the US and teach both in English and Mandarin Chinese. They have used blogging to introduce faculty, such as Kai-Yao the new Kindergarten teacher to the right, keep every one up to date on after school activities, admissions and other school business.

On our left is a picture of Mr.Litman who teaches the 5th grade at Ambrit-Rome international school. They're blog is used so teachers can keep in contact with students about assignments and projects. Some of the teachers blog in Italian with the students.

teacher blogs

The first site I visited was http://teacherlingo.com, were teachers from across the nation were using blogs. They used them for posting assignments, to contacting parents to share advice and even to vent. I like the site because it had a tab for lesson plans teachers had blogged. A negative however is there's no monitoring or formality. Some teachers use complete sentences and appropriate language for school, but others don't. However if you can sift threw the few ranters, its a good site to find a lot of experienced teacher talking about school issues.

http://mtnbrookseniors.blogspot.com/ is the next site I went to. Would you believe an English class has a blogspot account? Her instructions were "Every week you will be expected to post at least two comments to this blog. Feel free to post your own ideas or comment on mine. All posts must be relevant to class discussions and assignments. Please mind your manners and use this spot for interesting discourse. Have fun this last semester of your senior year!" Isn't that cool! She's using a blog to get her students to discuss home work and class assignment and to post questions to have other students answer! Every now and again she will post a discussion topic. She has chosen to post a butterfly instead of a picture of her.

world is moving to fast

My response to the fischbowl video was one of uncertainty and dismay. How can we possibly train students for jobs that don't exist? Do we train them in a generalized field and wish them luck? With the world moving so fast how do I know that the information I give my students won't be obsolete and useless by the time they get a job? What do I do with a computer that exceeds the power of my brain? Visions of the Matrix flashed in my head. But then again as long as we can unplug the computer it won't harvest us for energy. Right?
There are some advantages to fast moving technology though; computers can be made cheaply. As the video clip suggests students in third world countries who have never even seen a text book could have Internet access. However look at were the buy a laptop/give a laptop programs are in place: US, India, China,and the most industrialized and wealthy among us. Due to the capitalist nature of these countries the more pessimistic and dominate side of me doubts the availability of computers in third world counties. It is said that our generation has the ability to end poverty in the world. And I believe them, but will we? Or will we use the available and fast moving technology to socialize with other industrial zed counties and leave the others behind and widen the gap between wealth distribution? I don't know.